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Bad News: Trial Run For Washermanpet And AG-DMS Metro Stretches To Chennai Central Delayed By A Month

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Indian Infra Hub Staff
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Trial run for two stretches of Chennai Metro — AG-DMS to Chennai Central and Chennai Central to Washermanpet may get delayed, The Hindu has reported. The trial runs had been scheduled for September initially.

According to sources which spoke to The Hindu, the trial has been deferred as the signalling software necessary for operating the Metro has not arrived for installation. The signalling system is now likely to be ready by next month.

“The track and other works have been completed. When the software comes, we will carry out the trial run,” an official said. The Metro authorities had planned to throw open the two lines to the public by December. However, the Metro construction work is yet to be completed in Anna Salai. It is as of yet unclear how the pending works are to be completed within the deadline.

There are two underground Metro stations on either side of the intersection – Anna Nagar East and Anna Nagar Tower. The subway once opened, will make it easy for the pedestrians who have been crossing the intersections at risk as there are no traffic signals.

Irony Of Chennai: In Land Ruled By ‘Two Leaves’, There Is No Scope For Others

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Indian Infra Hub Staff
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The sealed Lone Square Park in Broadway, which was once used to store material for the metro rail work in North Chennai, is in shambles with extra material and garbage scattered all over, as reported by TOI.

Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) has not yet restored the park despite the construction of metro stations in Mannady and Washermenpet almost being complete. Huts have come up along the frontier of the park, that used to be a welcome relief for residents living in the congested locality.

“When I moved to Chennai a decade ago, we went to the park for evening walks. It was the only escape from the concrete jungle we live in,” said Bhavana, a resident.

The debris left behind due to the construction has left the once evergreen park in tatters. The fountain where residents used to sit and catch up after a long day is now dry and soiled, leaving residents frustrated.

“Back in 2003, the proposal of converting this park into a parking lot for trucks was put off after then councillor, Krishnaswamy, moved a petition against it,” said Santhanam, a resident, adding that the metro rail had taken over the park five years ago. “Since then, trees have been cut, and huts have come up. No action has been taken to restore the park,” he said.

Officials from CMRL have said that the park would be restored by March 2019. “The work is at different stages of completion. It is not just CMRL, but several other departments that are involved. Work to restore the park will be taken up and is expected to be over by March 2019,” said an official.

Namma Metro, BMTC Have Brought Down Bengalureans’ Office Commute Time By 11 Minutes, Says Study

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Indian Infra Hub Staff
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A study conducted by Bengaluru’s Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) has come to the conclusion that the commuting time has reduced from 40 minutes in 2001 to 29 minutes in 2017. Due credits have been given to Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and Namma Metro, The Hindu reported.

The study titled ‘Will Bengaluru Become Smart or Liveable?’ was conducted by Kala Seetharam Sridhar, Prof S Manasi, Assistant Prof K C Smitha, N Latha which found that the average cost to travel in public transport on a daily basis is about Rs 34.

The report read, “For ICT workers, the commute time was significantly higher at 40 minutes one way while the average distance was higher at 11 km.”

For the businessmen and women, the commute time was about 19 minutes since their shops were located near their residences.

Due to improving connectivity in Bengaluru, travelling time to offices has come down by 11 minutes. The study was based on a sample of 1,500 households (5,514 persons) in 27 wards in different parts of the city. The exercise was funded by the Indian Council for Social Science Research.

Bengaluru: As Demand For Metro Smart-Cards Continues To Rise, Commuters Now Look For Common Mobility Cards

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Indian Infra Hub Staff
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Since its inception in 2010, Bengaluru’s Namma Metro has been able to shell out 14 lakh smart-cards to commuters. Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) officials have informed that the demand for smart-cards has been steeply rising consistently since the metro services began operations.

Namma Metro’s average ridership now stands at 3.9 lakh. The Hindu quoted A S Shankar, BMRCL’s Executive Director for Operations and Maintenance as saying, “Around 70 per cent of commuters using Namma Metro are smart card holders. While once we sold 1,000-odd cards a day, it’s now 1,500 to 1,700, and on some days, it’s 2,000.”

The advantage of possessing these cards is that the commuter gets a discount of 15 per cent, and he/she gets to avoid standing in long queues to purchase tokens for every single journey. There has been a growing demand to amalgamate BMRCL’s card and BMTC’s bus passes as a single common mobility smart-card so that commuters can use the same card for journey is both, buses and metro.

Authorities have informed that the introduction of six-coach trains has been very helpful in clearing the peak-hour rush at stations. Throughout the day, four rounds of the trains are operated so that the the city’s population gets requisite service at the stations.

Bengaluru’s Namma Metro Becomes Dasara Jumbo Savari, Sees Record Ridership Of 4.5 Lakh

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Indian Infra Hub Staff
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Namma Metro recorded its highest daily ridership at 4.49 lakh on Wednesday (17 October). The previous highest ridership record was 4.36 lakh recorded on 9 September, reports Deccan Herald.

The fact that Dasara holiday often brings a long weekend, more people use the metro to explore the city and visit their friends. The recently introduced six coach metro trains also helped the ridership cross the four lakh barrier.

The second six coach train flagged off by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy last month, had taken the count to 4.5 lakh on Wednesday. The Green line ridership had an estimate of 2.05 lakh while the Purple line recorded more than 2.43 lakh passengers.

The six-coach metro trains can carry 2,000 passengers at a time and currently has two six-coach currently. The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation would introduce the third set of six-coach trains in October-end with the first six-coach train having been received in June this year.

The process of converting all the 53 coach train into six-coach train would take place next year providing relief to the passengers as the record ridership was accompanied with complaints about over-crowded coaches.

Bengaluru: Whitefield–Airport Commute To Get Easier As NHAI Accelerates Work On Satellite Town Ring Road

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Indian Infra Hub Staff
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The commute time to the Bengaluru airport may get shorter for those living in Whitefield within three years as the National Highways Authority Of India (NHAI) is accelerating the construction of the Satellite Town Ring Road (STRR) between Hoskote and Dobbspet, The Hindu has reported.

The Ring Road will traverse through the northern corners of the city through areas like Devanahalli and Doddaballapur, passing within a couple of kilometres from the proposed entry into the Eastern Tunnel Road conceived by the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). The road spans a distance of 80.32 km and will cost close to Rs 2,870 crore.

The other STRR arc, which connects the southern corners of the city, is expected to run into obstacles due to delays over wildlife and forest permissions for constructing an elevated road through Bannerghatta National Park.

“Until then, the STRR from Hoskote to Dobbspet can be constructed relatively fast. We expect it to be operational within three years, and will see the immediate diversion of vehicles that would have otherwise gone on Ring Road or through the city,” says S P Somashekhar, Project Director, NHAI.

He said a detailed feasibility report was being prepared and the tenders will be awarded by March 2019. “By August 2019, work will start. The contractor will be given a standard time of 30 months for work,” he added.

Singara Chennai? Metro Grapples With Spit, Drunken Riders, Street Food Sales

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Indian Infra Hub Staff
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Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has been busy the past few weeks tackling new growing issues such as spitting, urinating, travelling drunk and defacing of property, Times of India has reported. In the course of the past three years, CMRL has fined more than 100 commuters and has reportedly collected Rs 24,000 in fine amount.

Times of India quoted a CMRL official as saying, “We have caught commuters spitting paan on the tiled floors, on the walls and on the steps in the ticketing and platform areas. Our staff have caught and fined commuters and non-commuters urinating in the parking lot and close to the walls of the stations.”

A flying squad has been appointed to look into the issue and take necessary action as per the provisions under Metro Railways (Operations and Maintenance) Act 2002. Several other nuisances such as defecating in the subways that connect to metro stations, vendors selling food, attempting to jump on the tracks, and the team has been doing their best to keep the security intact.

Since a lot of passengers do not carry cash in hand with them in large sums, the fine between Rs 50 and Rs 5,000 cannot be effectively imposed. Hence, the officials collect Rs 250 in general or the amount they can afford to pay on the spot.

Now Make Your Travel Within Bengaluru Easier, Track City’s Traffic Patterns Via Uber’s Movement Tool

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Indian Infra Hub Staff
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Uber Technologies last week rolled out its traffic “Movement” tool for Bengaluru after launching it earlier in Delhi and Mumbai, reports NDTV.

“Movement” is an open urban planning software tool accessible through movement.uber.com that enables users to access data on traffic patterns and travel times for any period and distances across the city.

“Through our mapping team, we have gathered large amounts of traffic and congestion data for Bengaluru,” Christian Freese, Uber spokesperson was quoted saying.

The tool is touted to play a major role in finding solutions to mobility challenges of cities and includes collaborating with the government, civil society and other stakeholders.

The Movement tool will encourage better infrastructure, city planning and data driven policy solutions to make Bengaluru more efficient,” Freese added.

Various sources say that the tool’s data revealed that travel time had doubled during peak hour traffic in cities like Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. Festival seasons also largely impacts traffic in India.

The data also reveals stark difference in the peak travel time during a weekday and weekend, with a 57 minutes average time during the first quarter of 2020.

The tool also indicated that, the metro service extension to Whitefield from Baiyappanahalli would reduce travel time on the route by 21 per cent.

Chennai Metro Cares: Builds Subway Between Anna Nagar East And Anna Tower Station

By
Indian Infra Hub Staff
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A pedestrian subway linking the four corners of the intersection will be built by the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) at roundtana, Anna Nagar to make road crossing relatively easy for the pedestrians. Metro rail commuters who want to get to the nearest station will also benefit from this subway, Times of India has reported.

Soil excavation work to build the subway at the intersection is going on. A Metro rail official told the paper that work is going on round-the-clock and they are trying to open the subway in the earliest possible time.

The subway once opened, will make it easy for the pedestrians who have been crossing the intersections at risk as there are no traffic signals.

There are two underground metro stations on either side of the intersection – Anna Nagar East and Anna Nagar Tower. The metro commuters who has to switch the stations will also benefit greatly from this subway as they can reach either of the stations using the subway.

Local residents have been – since the opening of the underground metro line in 2017 – complaining about the frequent minor accidents and snarls near the intersection due to absence of the traffic signals.

Bengaluru: Ticket Vending Machines To Be Withdrawn From Namma Metro Stations As Smart Card Usage Sees A Rise

By
Indian Infra Hub Staff
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The ticket vending machines installed at major metro stations in 2012 are set to be withdrawn by the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL). The machines were set up in Metro stations like Majestic , MG Road, Indiranagar and Byappanahalli.

However, many passengers say the machines were hardly used and were frequently out of order.

“BMRCL should have deployed staff to guide passengers to use these machines, but most of the times they used to be out of order. There have been several complaints of staff at the counters not returning the change,” said Lokesh K, another passenger, as reported by TOI.

The daily ridership has of Namma Metro has increased from 3.5 lakh to 4 lakh and is expected to touch 5 lakh after all 50 trains gets six coaches by June 2019. The number of smart card users has also shot up, around 60 per cent of those travelling on Purple Line and 51 per cent of the passengers on Green Line are now using the cards.

BMRCL managing director Ajay Seth confirmed that they are withdrawing the vending machines. “The vendor is exiting the business. We are chalking out an IT solution so that commuters can pay using Metro website/app and recharge their cards at entry gates,” he added.

Officials behind the move also say that the decision comes in the backdrop of poor usage of the machines after demonetisation in 2016, which has rendered them dysfunctional. The machines were not re-calibrated to accept new notes, particularly those of Rs 10, Rs 200, Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 denominations.

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